Tag Archives: World Cinema

Review in Brief: Manhunt (2017/18)

Posted on October 2, 2018 by

Surprise, surprise, John Woo’s latest is very John Woo. MANHUNT’s action may take a while to really ramp up, but once it does you’ve got more people flying through the air, sliding along surfaces and rapidly expending and replacing guns … Continue reading →

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Review: The Lure (2015)

Posted on May 30, 2018 by

Mermaid horror-musical THE LURE is something else. Mostly because it’s a mermaid horror-musical, and I, like many others I’m sure, never thought I’d ever watch, let alone want or need, such a thing. It’s also apparently the first proper musical … Continue reading →

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Review: Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017)

Posted on May 18, 2018 by

MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER, the first film from Studio Ghibli successors Studio Ponoc looks stunning, but it does feel insubstantial. That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just not really about much. I’m prepared to forgive a lot because … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Psychokinesis (2018)

Posted on May 15, 2018 by

What does Yeon Sang-ho, do after directing companion zombie thrillers TRAIN TO BUSAN and SEOUL STATION? Why a comedy-soap-superhero movie, of course! PSYCHOKINESIS follows a deadbeat dad (Ryu Seung-ryong) using telekinetic superpowers acquired from meteorite-contaminated springwater to save his daughter … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Blade of the Immortal (2017)

Posted on April 24, 2018 by

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL is one-man filmmaking army Takashi Miike’s 100th feature and arguably his largest scale project to date. I doubt the man who makes Ridley Scott look sluggish even broke a sweat (only a film a year, Ridders? … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Bloody Milk (2017)

Posted on December 26, 2017 by

It really has been the year for depressing farming dramas hasn’t it? First-time UK filmmakers gave us THE LEVELLING and GOD’S OWN COUNTRY, now comes France’s offering, BLOODY MILK. Director Hubert Charuel must have drawn on some of his own … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: The Villainess (2017)

Posted on October 5, 2017 by

Creative fight choreography and full-on violence is one thing, but what really blew me away about THE VILLAINESS was the cinematography. I can’t even begin to imagine how they achieved some of these impossible shots. For once a POV action … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Toni Erdmann (2016)

Posted on June 14, 2017 by

Pretty much every review I’ve seen of TONI ERDMANN has been focussed on how unexpectedly good a two-and-a-half hour German comedy turns out to be. I find that overly reductive and more than a little patronising. American comedies are often … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Seoul Station (2016)

Posted on June 1, 2017 by

SEOUL STATION brings back slapstick zombies and a good punch of dark satire in its final act, but as a companion piece to TRAIN TO BUSAN, it falls rather short in terms of character. None of the supposed protagonists are … Continue reading →

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Review: The Handmaiden (2016)

Posted on May 2, 2017 by

THE HANDMAIDEN is unmistakably a Park Chan-wook film. A polished tale of control featuring sadistic torture and plot-reevaluating twists, this is far beyond the ordinary bodice-ripper. During the Japanese occupation of Korea, a thief (Kim Tae-ri) masquerades as a handmaiden … Continue reading →

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